Singapore’s Jesse Yap recovered well after a difficult start at the Indo Masters Golf Invitational presented by TNE on Thursday, backing up his first round score with a solid 67 to hold off a charge from Australia’s Harrison Gilbert and Jakraphan Premsirigorn of Thailand.

Play started early at Imperial Club Golf, Lippo Karawaci, with a 6.30am restart to make up the ground lost to bad weather at the end of the day on Wednesday, but there were no interruptions for Round Two, with the field able to complete the round in normal time with the cut falling at +3.

Yap’s round started poorly with a bogey on the first hole, but he rallied quickly and posted six birdies for a five-under-par 67, which was enough to secure the lead against a strong showing in the afternoon wave.

Low round of the day by Australia’s Harrison Gilbert. Photo by Yulius Martinus / OBGolf

Round of the day though belonged to Australia’s Harrison Gilbert, who turned in a bogey-free 64, with three birdies on each nine and an eagle on the par five 11th hole.

Said Gilbert: “My game was pretty good today, I was bogey free with eight under 64. I came out hot, four under through six, and said to myself just stay in the present because I’ve had a tendency in the past to not finish good rounds.”

“The course is such a tough driving course. Mentally you step up to every tee box thinking I have to hit a fairway otherwise it’s going to be hard to get the ball close to the pin. I hit the ball quite a long way and it just means I have to not hit driver, hit three wood for strategy and just really play to my positions. Today I did that really well, executed a lot of great shots so I’m really pleased.

“The weather I would say was just about perfect, I played in Phuket for the Beautiful Thailand Swing last month and the humidity was just too much for me but here its just about perfect. I’m just really happy we got through two rounds without a rain delay. Well I did, I got the good side of the draw and I was very lucky for that.

“Last week I really struggled with the rain delays so very pleased to get through two rounds without a delay this week. I’ll go into the next two days just with the same strategy, hit it to my spots, stay patient and stay in the present.”

Chen Guxin of China. Photo by Yulius Martinus / OBGolf

Thailand’s Jakraphan Premsirigorn made a late charge to secure a share of second place with a closing run of three birdies in the final four holes to secure a blemish-free 66, and he will be starting in the leading group when Round Three gets underway tomorrow.

Thai duo Chanat Sakulpolphaisan and Sarun Sirithon both made strong starts among the groups teeing off on the back nine, with Sakulpolphaisan posting five birdies before the turn and Sirithon also eagling the par five 11th hole before dropping a shot on hole 3 in his back nine. They posted a 66 and 68 respectively and share fourth place for the third round.

China’s Chen Guxin heads up a group of three in sixth place, sharing the spot with last week’s winner Naraajie E. Ramadhanputra of Indonesia and overnight leader, Malaysia’s Shahriffuddin Ariffin. Chen started well with three birdies on his front nine but two bogeys saw him slip back down the order. Ramadhanputra posted a reasonable 68 to gain ground on his overnight position while Ariffin was disappointed to see his lead slip away after trading birdies and bogeys to make par for the day.

Kurnia Herisiandy of Indonesia. Photo by Yulius Martinus / OBGolf

Kurnia Herisiandy of Indonesia, Chonlatit Chuenboonngam of Thailand, Malaysia’s Paul San and Ryoto Furuya of the USA make up a group on ninth place at four under. In 13th spot, Ira Alido of the Philippines, Thailand’s Tawit Polthai and the Malaysian duo of Galven Green and Amir Nazrin will start the day tomorrow at three under.

Rounding out the top twenty is Australia’s Jack Murdoch and Elki Know of Indonesia, both of whom dropped shots on the front nine, and they are joined on two under by Sam Gillis of the USA and Indonesia’s Rinaldi Adiyandono.